Bathing units, such as spas, typically include various bathing unit components that are used in operating the bathing system. The bathing unit components generally include pumps that circulate water through a piping system, pumps for activating water jets, at least one heating module to heat the water, a filter system, an air blower, an ozone generator, a lighting system, and a control system that activate and manage the various operational settings of the bathing unit components. Other types of bathing units that have similar components include, for instance, whirlpools, hot tubs, bathtubs, therapeutic baths, spas and swimming pools. Most modern bathing systems include a control panel that is in communication with the bathing unit control system. The control panel is typically positioned in proximity to the bathing system so that a user of the bathing system may interact with it in order to adjust and control the activation and settings of the various bathing unit components.
Positioning the control panel in proximity to the bathing unit system, for example on a portion of an outer peripheral wall of the bathing unit system, presents a challenge. While such proximity of the control panel to the bathing unit system facilitates user interactions with the control panel, this proximity increases detrimental exposure of the control panel internal and external components to moisture. As a result, this detrimental moisture exposure may increase, for example, sanitary (e.g., mildew), integrity (e.g., rust), operability/safety (e.g., water-induced short circuits) risks to the control panel, as well as other risks which can be apparent to the person of skill.
One approach for addressing the above issue is to construct the control panel using water-resistant sealing material, such as silicone, to at least partially fill air gaps present in the control panel device structure through which moisture could penetrate. The use of such water-resistant sealing material may effectively block water entry in the device and thus avoid the control panel internal components being exposed to moisture. A deficiency of such an approach is that it requires the owner of the bathing unit system to monitor and maintain the sealing material integrity, which would attract additional costs and efforts for operating the bathing system.
Another challenge associated with control panels is that different bathing unit manufacturers as well as different user may have different preferences in terms of the visual appearance of the control panels. To satisfy these different customers, different versions of the control panels need to be designed, manufactured and maintained in inventory. Such customization tends to increase the manufacturing cost of individual control panels and thus may increase the price paid by the end consumer.
Against the background described above, there remains a need in the industry to provide a topside control panel for a bathing unit system that alleviates at least in part the problems associated with existing control panels of the type described above.